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Monday, 14 January 2013

Creative Industry Advice #1 - How to get that Interview

This is my first post in a 3 part series of advice when it comes to applying for jobs in the creative industries. The advice your parents and tutors give you is great (they've been through it themselves), but the advice was always different when it came to hearing it from other young people, going through exactly the same experiences as myself.

Everyone approches applying for jobs differently, but I thought i'd share with you my advice and tips to firstly, gaining that interview, with more posts about the actual interview to come. I would have loved to see what kind of techniques other girls used in applying for jobs/internships, their cover letters etc - so here I am sharing mine! I was a bit apprehensive about posting advice, after all I've just got a job myself freelancing as fashion assistant for Selfridges and ASOS.com, so if my advise helps just one of you lovely readers get they're dream job - then my mission is complete (trust me - I know first hand how hard/disheartening it can be!).

When I started applying for internships and
interviews, I was applying for at least 10 a day – if I could find 10 a day!
Eventually I discovered that I was getting replies from employers if I applied
these techniques to my applications. So here they are:

1.
Check EVERYDAY as often as you
can

This is a big commitment, and you may not have the freedom to check every
hour, but do so as often as you can. I got up first thing in the morning to see
any new job posts, and checked in my lunch hour and when I got home.

Tip: I found that if a job
was more than a day old I wasn’t likely to get a reply. This is because of the
sheer volume of applications an employer gets. One photographer that interviewed
me said he’d got 200 in the first day! This is why it’s so important to keep
checking and try to apply as soon as possible, to improve the chances of your CV
being seen. If it is older than a day old? Apply anyway. Contradiction? I know, but you might as well improve your chances.

2.
Be keen, but not annoying

There is a fine line between being keen for a placement, and being annoying.
Give a potential employer an email and attach your work. Do not
write in your e-mail ‘if you’re interested e-mail me back and I will send over my work’. No employer has time
to e-mail you back, so make sure that you attach a reasonable sized file of
your work, along with a cover letter the first time you email them.

A couple of days to a week
later just send a follow up e-mail to ask if they got your CV. If you can, give them a call and arrange a date and time you can discuss your work (you can
also do this is your follow up e-mail).

Tip: If you can, hand deliver your CV and cover letter with examples of your work to the company HQ. If you can, make a copy for each person in the team you want to work for. This will get them discussing your work around the office. They will also see that there are no stamps on the letter. No stamps = Hand Delivered. Hand Delivered = More Effort Made. You get where I'm going...

3.
In your Cover Letter

- State exactly why you're perfect
for the job, with the skills/experience you have to back this up.

- Keep it short and sweet – try
not to ramble on. Try not to write more than 100 words.

- Leave all of your contact
details

- Get someone else to read your Cover letter, check for spelling and to make sure you sound sincere.

- Yes it's a lot of effort but write a cover letter for each employer - don't send out the same one for every company, they will know.

- Don't repeat what's in your CV, no employer wants to waste time reading the same paragraphs/information.

4. Your CV

The creative industries are well, all about being creative. So don't stop when it comes to your CV. Don't just type out a word document. The amount of CVs that are just a word document... It's crazy. Make it attractive, use colour! Let's just say my CV isn't in the standard format and I didn't use word - but I don't want to give away all of my secrets now do I!

I had an interview with Mr Terry Mansfield (Former CEO of Hearst Corporations, they own ELLE Magazine etc) and he said the most important thing is to stand out. He gave myself and Nia (the lovely human I worked on duende magazine with) some advice that said 'if you are good at sewing, sew your CV onto a t-shirt. If you are good at graphics create your CV into a poster' - Basically show off your skills and be innovative! Even if the person you're sending it too doesn't agree with a CV being anything but 'paper based with no colour', I can guarantee it'll get them talking about you, and more likely to get that email/phone call for an interview!

5. Don’t be afraid to ask

When I first started
looking for jobs, and when I came across people with contacts to the industry I
was always scared to ask to pass on my details, incase I came across as
‘annoying’. This is just silly. You’re making a career for yourself, the worst
thing the contact can do is say no, so you might as well give it a try! You’ll
find that if you show you’re passionate about the potential job, the contact
will be more than willing to pass on your details.

Do you have any techniques/advice you think would help out your fellow creatives? Any tricks that will get you that interview? I hope you found this post helpful, keep checking back for my next blog post on how to ace that interview!

10 comments:

Oh wow this is such an incredible post and such a good idea, thank you so much for all of the advice you've shared :) I'm graduating in May and want to become a personal shopper so I'm gonna be applying for sales assistant roles to begin with and I find them such a bugger to find, so you've deffo given me some good ideas! Can't wait for the rest of your posts :)Love Holly x

Hi Holly!Thanks - there's so much advise on the internet when it comes to interviews, but having just gone through it myself, I thought i'd share my own experiences/advise. I've been looking for personal shopper jobs too - they're aren't many out there so if you can do a placement with a stylist do it - it's great experience with the right person, and will look great on your CV!Holly x

Hi!Thanks for your kind words and for stopping by my blog! They're are so many young people struggling to get just an internship so I wanted to give some advice!Be sure to keep checking back as my 'how to ace the interview' post will be up very soon!Good luck with your final year at uni!Holly x

Literally type 'fashion internships/jobs' into google and LOADS come up.I used ukfashionintern (where these articles are also posted) fashionworkie, FashionUnited, and gumtree for most of them. Also make a list of companies you'd like to work for and check there sites as often as you can too.

Read this blog if you're a hardworking dreamer, wanting to know everything about working in fashion (including the nitty gritty) from a girl working amongst it, with the occasional suspect OOTD (no planned perfection for the cameras here!)